Film screening to wrap up Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon exhibition

The exhibition, Retracing Footsteps - The Changing Landscape of Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon - opened at the Grosvenor Museum in Chester on June 15th.  

To mark the close of the exhibition, a free event is being held at the Museum on Saturday 14^th September with an exclusive screening of Creigiau Geirwon (Rugged Rocks)- a filmed theatre performance providing the chance to discover more about the early mountain guides of Eryri/Snowdonia and the botanists, plant collectors, geologists, artists and poets they led across the mountain slopes and peaks. This will be followed by a Q&A with the show’s writer and director, Wyn Bowen Harries. 

The screening brings to an end the popular exhibition focused on Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon - often hailed as one of the world’s busiest mountains, attracting around 650,000 visitors a year - and the enduring desire to reach the summit.  

The exhibition is the second phase of a research project co-led by Dr Cian Quayle, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Dr Daniel Bos, Senior Lecturer in Human Geography from the University of Chester and is based on Daniel’s extensive research on 19th century Snowdon summit hotel visitor books in which the tourists of the day recorded, through prose, poetry, humour and sketches, their experience of ascending Yr Wyddfa. The first part of the project was curated by Cian and exhibited at CASC (Contemporary Art Space Chester) in Castlefield Gallery New Arts Spaces: Chester at the end of last year. 

The exhibition expands the scope of the work seen at CASC through the inclusion of a collection of paintings, prints and drawings related to the North Wales landscape and Yr Wyddfa selected from the Grosvenor Museum art collection, which Cian has curated alongside photographs he has taken, and by recent BA Photography graduates Emma Petruzzelli and Jane Evans.   

International Relations student Ewan Lahey has been working with Daniel to further research the visitor books, held in Archives and Special Collections at Bangor University, and the project has supported the digitisation of these materials. BA Graphic Design student Eleanor O'Grady has also worked alongside Dr Alan Summers to make a prototype Contemporary Visitor Book experience, which is featured at the centre of the exhibition. The Contemporary Visitor Book, which is a handmade artist-designed book is a means of also collecting stories, anecdotes and even drawings and poems where visitors to the Grosvenor Museum are encouraged to respond to the 19th century experience and reflect upon and record their experience of the mountain and the North Wales landscape through their visit to the exhibition. This material will also form part of the ongoing research.  

Daniel said: “Thank you to everyone who has worked with us on this exhibition and to all who have visited to date.  

“There are still two weeks left to visit the exhibition and to engage with our contemporary visitor book experience, with the added opportunity of combining a visit with the film screening and hearing from writer and director, Wyn Bowen Harries on September 14. We look forward to the final weekend and a great way to conclude the exhibition’s run at the Grosvenor Museum.”   

Seen in Pontio, Bangor, and recorded live by SDG productions, Creigiau Geirwon is Cwmni Pendraw’s third production. The company specialises in combining science and history in creative and surprising ways, with actors Iwan Charles, Llyr Evans and Manon Wilkinson, live music by Patrick Rimes and Casi Wyn, and for the first time, dance by Kate Lawrence Vertical Dance.  

The film will be screened at 2pm on September 14 and is rated age seven and above. 

To book free tickets, please visit: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/westcheshiremuseums/t-vvdyemg. 

The Grosvenor Museum is at Grosvenor Street, Chester, CH1 2DD, and is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10.30am to 5pm, Sundays from 1pm to 4pm, and closed on Mondays apart from bank holidays.